The Grenade

This is one of Dragnet 1967's more ambitious episodes. It's notable for the casting of future 70's TV/movie stars John Rubinstein and (the "Jan" not yet credited) Michael Vincent. While Rubinstein shows more talent (I saw him do a dead-on Darryl F. Zanuck once: excellent actor!), Webb managed to save a few wardrobe bucks by keeping hunk Vincent shirtless. Mickey Sholdar plays misunderstood acid-wielding loner/psychopath Gerald Paulson. A bit on the melodramatic side here, Sholdar's acting career spanned primarily his teens & twenties, with his most notable gig being a series regular on real-life uber-disturbed Inger Stevens' The Farmer's Daughter (where he once appeared with this episode's Heather Menzies; Hollywood was a small planet in the 60's). "The Grenade" contains less right wing proselytizing than many of Webb's '67 entries but does sport the usual idiotic generic "rock" music heard when a 60's TV producer was either too cheap or oblivious to the real thing. I think Sherwood Schwartz shared his '45 collection with Jack Webb (I'm sure that same dance number was used in an episode where Gilligan dances with a monkey). This episode does have me wondering if it really was that easy for a disturbed, Brylcreamed 18-year old to get his mits on WW2-era explosive ordinance in 1967. I was only 10 then and don't remember these babies being sold in the Army-Navy stores I wandered into. Sidebar: What the hell ever happened to Jan-Michael Vincent?! He was a big deal in the 70's-early 80's but he's seemed to have blazed a trail for Mickey Rourke, without the late game comeback. Back on topic: For all my criticism about how chea.. errh ---economical--- Webb-the-Producer was, the series has a weird, undeniable appeal and this is one of the better installments. 9+/10 for the season, likely the Citizen Kane of Dragnet 1967.

Decades later Columbine and Sandy Hook have made this episode ring true. A disturbed teen starts out by throwing acid at a fellow student while at a movie theater; later a search of the boy's room turns up a 45 hand gun and a semi-automatic rifle and a live hand grenade. And when an additional grenade is missing, Friday and Gannon know they need to find the suspect. By today's standards, the acting is stilted and the action slow, but the story has become too familiar.

There is one review here which does not characterize this episode well at all. In fact, I wonder if the writer thereof is confusing it with something else, like the 50's Dragent episode entitled "The Big War." Anyway, while Gerald Paulson's mother (as little as we see of her) does seem to be the type who has over-mothered him, his step father seems to know that he is a problem kid; but being the step, he also seems to succumb to his more limited role as a "father" and has let the doting mother do the parenting. That is until he has been caught pouring acid on another teenage boy in a movie theater (becaues that boy and his girlfriend were "bugging" him by talking and giggling). Even his mother seems to change her approach (though it's off camera) and backs up her husband, who has told Gerald to clear his chemistry paraphernalia out of the garage-- the tie was obviously made, correctly, between his troubled, tempestuous, loner-type personality and his interest in chemicals, explosives, etc. Meanwhile, another reviewer has it right that Gerald has also learned how to be a phony. When interrogated by Friday and Gannon, he indicates he is regretful for his overreaction to the situation and desires to make things right (as possible). But shortly, it is his mother taking his step-father's side that set him off to use power over his 'acquaintances' that he doesn't have in influence.

I can sympathize with Gerald. I was somewhat like him when I was in high school-- almost friendless, considered strange or "weird" (the more common term) and was never invited to parties or fun events. Occasionally I was (as Gerald *might* have been) asked questions about science, history, or other subjects they knew I was an A student in. But that, of course, was just to use me to help them get a better grade. But I can't, of course, justify Gerald's solution to his not being taken for a friend. In my middle age, I think the way I was (and, for the most part, still am) has helped me stay clear of many other problems I've seen.

This episode is about a kid who is seriously disturbed. However, despite tons of warning signs, his parents are morons and live in a constant state of denial. At first, his behaviors are dangerous but he always seems to have an excuse that the parents buy quickly. Even when Friday and Gannon get involved, the parents continue to insist that their little angel is just 'misunderstood'. Eventually, this culminates in much more serious behaviors such as pouring acid on Jan-Michael Vincent's clothes as well as his threatening a group of kids with a live hand grenade--and Friday and Gannon jump into action to save everyone. Finally, the parents realize they have a problem on their hands!! While it's way too easy to blame parents for all a kid's problems, this show is a wonderful example of a mentally disturbed kid whose parents are just incompetent boobs. Very, very informative, entertaining and tense. One of the better episodes.

Just wondering why Natalie Masters was not credited as Jan-Michael Vincent's mother in this episode? I suspect her part wasn't big enough, but I'd appreciate a mention for her. But as long it allowed her to keep her SAG card, that's all that matters. Jack Webb was known for allowing a lot of former radio performers and character actors parts to keep their cards current. BTW, I loved her in the radio series, "Candy Matson." She was one of the few female leads as a private detective. And just as groundbreaking, her sidekick in the late '40s-early '50s West Coast NBC series (from San Francisco) was Rembrandt Watson, likely the first gay character in radio.